Convert Your Android Phone Into Home Security Camera

In a country where insecurity is a major
problem, it is advisable to do all you can to
safeguard your life and property and not wait
for the government to do the job for you.

Setting up a home security system does not
need to cost you an arm and a leg.

In fact, according to cnet.com, you don’t need
to wait until you could afford to install a closed-
circuit television in your home to secure your
life and property.

All you need are two smartphones √— one will
be installed in your apartment while the other
will be used to monitor what’s happening from
anywhere you are.

As long as your phones are working properly
and their rear cameras are functioning, you’re
good to go. The process is very easy to set up,
but not totally free.

Get a security camera app running on your
phone:
To begin, you will need to choose a security
camera app for your phone. Most apps offer up
much of the same features, such as local
streaming, cloud streaming, recording and
storing footage locally or remotely, and motion
detection and alerts. Once you’re set up, you
will be able to monitor your living space and
control your security camera from anywhere,
straight from your phone.

Installing security camera app on iOS
One of the best options for turning an iOS
device into a security camera is an application
called Manything (a mash-up of “Monitor
anything”). With Manything, you can set up
motion alerts, choose between a video or
stills-only mode, and even integrate with IFTTT
(an abbreviation of “If This Then That”) — a
free web-based service that allows users to
create chains of simple conditional statements,
called “recipes,” which are triggered based on
changes to other web services such as Gmail,
Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest — for
virtually endless ways to configure your
security camera.

Manything is a free download from the App
Store and comes with a completely free plan,
allowing up to one camera and free recording.

To get started:
Download Manything from the App Store to
the two iOS
phones.

√From the phone to be installed in your home,
open Settings
and disable Auto Lock under General.
Register or sign in to Manything using an
email address or
Facebook account.

√Select Camera mode with the iOS device at
home and Viewer
mode for the mobile device.
Press the red button from the home camera
device to start
the live stream.

√From the mobile phone, the live stream will
appear in the list of streaming devices.
Alternatively, you
can view the stream from a computer by
signing in at manything.com.

Installing security camera app on Android
The process for iOS device is very similar to
that of an Android device, except that there is a
different camera app for the latter. Despite so
many options to choose from, one of the best
security camera applications available is IP
Webcam. There is a lite version available
completely free of charge, but you will need to
purchase the Pro version of the app for $3.99
(about N1,500) to unlock all features.

IP Webcam broadcasts both locally and over
the cloud using a service called Ivideon, so
you can view your stream, live, from
anywhere.
To setup your Android phone as a security
camera:
Download IP Webcam from Google Play to
the home device.
Launch IP Webcam and set your video
preferences, effects, power management
settings, and motion or sound detecting, if
desired. (To broadcast the stream remotely,
register or sign in to Ivideon, test compatibility
and enable the cloud stream).

•To start the stream, select Start server at
the very bottom of the app.
To view the stream on your mobile device:
Find the provided IP address and port number
on the phone setup as a security camera. From
another device (computer, smartphone, or
tablet), enter the IP address in the address bar
of the Web browser. Note that if you setup an
Ivideon cloud stream, from a computer, visit
ivideon.com and sign in to view.